The Institutes of Akbar 82.2.3

82.2.3

The Hindus believe that the eight points of the earth are each guarded by a heavenly being in the shape of an elephant; they have curious legends regarding them. Their names are as follows: 1. Airávata, in the East; 2. Pundaríka, South-east; 3. Béman, South; 4. Kumuda, South-west; 5. Anjan, West; 6. Pushpadanta, North-west; 7. Sárbhabhauma, North; 8. Supratíka, North-east. When occasions arise, people read incantations in their names, and address them in worship. They also think that every elephant in the world is the offspring of one of them. Thus, elephants of a white skin and white hairs are related to the first; elephants with a large head, and long hairs, of a fierce and bold temper, and eyelids far apart, belong to the second; such as are ...., good looking, black, and high in the back, are the offspring of the third; if tall, ungovernable, quick in understanding, short-haired, and with red and black eyes, they come from the fourth; if bright black, with one tusk longer than the other, with a white breast and belly, and long and thick fore-feet, from the fifth; if fearful, with prominent veins, with a short hump and ears, and a long trunk, from the sixth; if thin-bellied, red-eyed, and with a long trunk, from the seventh; and if of a combination of the preceding seven qualities, from the eighth.